Hacking Social Media Accounts – Just for fun or Malicious Intent?

You have all heard of this because I know all of you would have a social media account. To be honest I do not know of anyone in my circle of friends who does not have any connection to the internet. Everyone is connected. Social media has become a powerful tool to influence and a lot of people are taking advantage of it. The amount of “likes” and the amount of “followers” a social media account has translated into actual and real-world money. A more sinister intention would be identity theft and gaining access to personal and possibly financial information. Hacking these accounts are actually so popular that websites like InstaPort and others have sprung up just for the sole purpose of hacking Instagram accounts. Below are some of the reasons why a Social Media Account is vulnerable and are targeted by hackers.

Information

Primary among the reasons why social media accounts are targeted is that they may hold important personal information that an identity thief might use. Personal information may also be used to solicit among your friends and your hacked account may also be used to gain access to all your friend lists and make them vulnerable too. A hacker can pretend that it is you and start asking for favors and financial assistance. Your family can be particularly vulnerable to these types of modus. This is actually the least of your worries, a hack may leave you open to identity theft and you would be unaware of it until your bills pile up and ruin your credit history forever.

Likes, Follows, and Shares

Some hackers would hack accounts on a large scale and have them like, follow and share a few thousand accounts as well, boosting its trending status which is also equivalent to a huge amount of money for monetizing site visits and interaction.

For Redirection

Yet others would hack your account to direct traffic to a website, who in turn will infect the social media accounts of those who clicked on the link. This type of hacked multiplies exponentially the more people click on the links they provide. In all likelihood, this would direct them to a phishing site to trawl for information to be used in other attacks.

There you have some of the reasons why social media accounts are targeted by hackers. These attacks are not restricted to famous personalities or important people only. Never be complacent just because you think you are an average joe.